


Re:incarnation

by Aria_Aire



Category: Cookie Run (Video Game)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Gen, Mental Breakdown, Sequel, Suicide Attempt, devsis im going to sue if ss6 is not dessert paradise, let me adopt wind archer and night raven, sugar swan playable when
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-11
Updated: 2020-09-11
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:35:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,656
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26408089
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aria_Aire/pseuds/Aria_Aire
Summary: It's raining here.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 6





	Re:incarnation

**Author's Note:**

> Completed: 04/12/2020  
> Translation finished: 08/18/2020
> 
> The paralel timeline of "Euforia".

The young boy realized, the target of the person - who has released those evil spirits into the forest - is not him, but it is...

"My duty is to protect this forest. I shall purify the Darkness!"

———————————

In the middle of the forest, the boy sorrowfully looks at the burnt roots in the ground. It was very tough for him to extinguish the fire there just now. That fire is not normal - it was magical fire, and is cold instead of hot, which only causes harm to the plants in this forest. And that fire is just slowly gnaw off the forest, part by part.

"Sorry, I can't help you much..."

Brushing the crumbling ash away from the tree bark, the boy turns his head to take a look at the lake - which is now all dried and full or cracking, while silently feels thankful to Sugar Swan for giving him his current shape. If he stayed as a wind, there would be no way he could extinguish those evillious fire. But... now the lake is no more, and the curse on the person he need to protect is becoming heavier.

He don't want that person to feel more pain and suffering. His duty here is to protect that person. Even he hasn't had any chance to meet that person in face, but he know that person doesn't deserve this. He will bring those evil masterminds who are attacking the forest out to the bright light, and punish them all.

That little boy is carrying such a huge responsibility on his shoulders alone. He doesn't acknowledge that he's still too weak for it.

———————————

Once again, this night the forest gets attacked.

Through the ghostly fluttering firewall, it's clearly that Dark Enchantress and her subordinate are standing over there.

By each arrow flies out, flash light comes by a straight line which tears the darkness apart, pierces the evil spirits that were eating the forest. The arrows are full of his anger. Each falling evil spirit is a step closer to that wall of fire. It must be extinguised at all cost.

But, just like yesterday, when he thought he was about to reach it, that wall of fire as well as the people who created it vanishes again.

The boy is being teased by those people.

———————————

\- So that fall was a pretend. You're quite good, boy. Wanna obey the master with me?

\- No way.

The reply immediatly comes out, as the boy are trying to hold down his anger. The fall just now is just a fake fall to distracting Pomegranate, but he still gets so much damage from it.

\- Fool. Everyone has a dark side. You too, kid.

\- What do you mean?

\- You don't understand what my master says? ... Well then. Instead of thinking, how about experiencing it right here, right now?

Before the boy can digest any of the information from what Pomegranate just said, his eyes got violently blurred by the light which came from the mirror in her hand.

Who... is the person in that mirror?

———————————

The awful discomfort was the first thing that invades the boy's feelings when he wakes up. He opens his eyes and sees that the surroundings are still the same as usual. The pale green foliage mixed with the dry branches of the trees that were crushed by the evil spirits to the core. The sky was cloudy with no sunlight visible.

Everyday, when he looks at this lousy scene, he always feels greatly painful. But that pain now seems to be swallowed up by his discomfort. With a heavy mind, the boy doesn't stand up like usual. Leaving the forest that he once treasured so much to gradually be consumed by darkness, he just quietly falls back down.

The boy closes his eyelids, and then starts to ask himself.

About how long has he been here?

How long has he protected this forest?

How long has he been waiting?

... And how long has he been lonely here like that?

———————————

“Happy Birthday.”

“...?”

“This is what you have been waiting for, am I right? To have yourself to say that, how pathetic.”

“Who are you? How can you know about my birthday?”

“...Enough. I can’t bear with this anymore.”

“What? H-Hey, wait!!”

———————————

The boy springs up, with the hand rushingly reach out forth. But no one is there.

“Was it a dream?”

It’s still a long time till the morning. But even if the morning comes, the sky won’t be much brighter than it is for now. Darkness filled up every path of the forest, and the last flow of the wind in the forest has already stopped some days ago.

The boy gets confused when thinking about the person in his dream. There are only Sugar Swan, that person and the boy himself know about his birthday. That person is still sink deep down in his sleep, and the Galaxy Lake is already—

But suddenly, the boy feels himself startled. The memory on the day he got attacked comes back.

No doubt. The person in the dream… was the one he saw in the mirror at that night.

———————————

“Have you realized?”

“... But why?”

“I said to you already. It’s enough.”

“...”

“You run away from the reality that you already know it’s pointless to continue waiting. You desperately negate your sadness and loneliness all that time. You abandon your own self.”

The boy is totally speechless while listening to those words, which come from 「himself」, but they’re also the things he don’t want to face. He can’t talk back, since they’re all his true feelings.

But it’s... just too cruel.

”What should I do now?”

”l have to admit that you’re such a coward. The answer must be found by you, 「myself」.”

———————————

It’s raining today.

The raindrops one by one heavily beats on the sparse foliage left, rolls through the trunk, and ends up at the patchy ground.

The boy sighs. Even the rain is stronger, nothing can be left on the surface. The water flows all go down those cracking, maybe they only stop when reaching the end of this world.

His sigh also vanishes into the rain. The boy raise his face up to catch the raindrops, and leave them fall down to cover his whole body.

He doesn’t mind finding a rain shelter, because there’s no foliage left that is big enough for this.

Cold. It’s too cold...

The rain has stopped for a while, but the cold still remain in the ragged forest. With an empty mind, the boy looks at his reflection on the small puddle under the feet.

That green color, although it got much faded, still stands out redundantly in the center of the forest.

How hateful.

Hateful. Hateful. Hateful. Hateful. Hateful. Hateful. Hateful. Hateful. Hateful. Hateful. Hateful. Hateful. Hateful. Hateful. Hateful. Hateful. Hateful. 

“Why am I still here?

Why do I need to exist?

Why I can’t even hold on to my own wish?

It will be all good if I disappear, right?”

———————————

The quiet days of the forest finally come to an end. But what’s there now, is just the rough and growling sounds of the wind.

The wish of the boy has now fully collapsed.

“... I don’t want to wake up anymore.”

“That’s the right choice. No one cares about your existence, and there is no reason for your existence.”

The boy silently listening to the bitter words from 「himself」while feeling that the darkness is slowly devours him. How can he still feel so irritated? Is 「disappearance」the right answer for him? What is he looking for?

”Even though I disappear, tomorrow will come. Everything in this world will also continues. That’s it...”

”You did suffered too much, my foolish self.”

”Sorry... I’m so sorry...”

“Don’t say sorry to me. Even if you say it out, who will be there to scold you because of your mistakes? Even if it’s reality or dreams, there is only one of the lonely you.”

“Tomorrow... No, no.......”

Cowering in the corner of the blackened dream, the boy hears the whispering from himself before his conciousness sinks into the sleep.

“Good night, and good bye to you.”

———————————

The green forest is no longer there. In the midst of the fierce hurricane is a bunch of hungry evil spirits screaming out painful noises around the scrawny trees with dry branches. No light could ever pass through the thick dark clouds and mist to reach where the boy could stand.

The figure of the boy was dyed all black, with the couple of black wings hidden behind the trees. Hiding his soulless eyes behind the bandage formed by dark magic, he refuses to look into this world ever again. That bandage only disappears when the night comes, when the stream of darkness has filled every corner of this dead forest.

Today, Dark Enchantress returns to the forest with Pomegranate. Although both were a bit surprised that the forest had almost completely changed, but that surprise was immediately be replaced with Dark Enchantress' satisfied smile.

\- Master, please let me capture that boy for you.

\- Good, my Pomegranate. Well… In this situation, it might be easier than I thought. Let's go.

———————————

\- Damn it... DAMN IT!

The poison arrow flew without a sound, plunging into the hand of Dark Enchantress that are holding the staff.

\- How dare you touch my Master! Master, Master, I'm sorry!

\- Crush that brat for me !!! Damn it, why did it turn out like this! He's supposed to obediently bow down and subdue the darkness!

\- I will not forgive anyone who dares to touch Master! Take this! Scarlet Poison!

The crimson liquid from the elixir that Pomegranate carried was thrown straight in the direction of the boy. The moment when he got touched by the poison, he stopped. His face lowered, and the bowstring got loosen down a bit.

Looks at the boy in that state, Pomegranate is unable to hide her triumph:

\- How is it? This is the most poisonous poison that I have made by my own hands, based on the formula left behind by my lost tribe. Right now your body is in excruciating pain, right?

\- ……… Stupid.

\- Huh?

\- I said you are stupid. This poison does not affect me at all. As the ones who came here first to provoke me like this... Don't blame me for being cruel.

Each drop of the posion gathers at the tip of the next arrow, which is being held up in the middle of the bow string that now get stretched to the limit.

\- Do not set foot in this territory of Night Raven ever again. Now, begone.

———————————

"How long have I slept ...?"

That question appears in the boy's mind after waking up by the bright light that comes from nowhere.

"This place is…?"

He looks up in surprise at the white cloudy blue sky. The place - that he is looking at now - is the familiar edge of the forest next to the lake. But strangely enough, this lake is exactly like it was in the past, at the time when the shape of the boy hasn't existed. On the other side, in the middle of the lake, was a floating green-covered island.

“Is it a dream? Or my illusion? After all, where am I? "

The boy took a while to realize, his body shape is not anymore now. He returned to his original form as a wind. But he did not mind that too much, because when he closed his eyes at that day, everything was over for him.

But, he is a bit curious, at the time when his wish was not clear, or more precisely, when his soul was not yet formed, the island was already gone. Probably so, because he never really saw it.

———————————

\- Brother, brother! Look how great this place is! How can it be much more greater than the City of Wizards? I’m sure there will be many useful things for my alchemy work!

\- Yawn... Yeah right, right, I’m going to sleep now...

\- Hey, don’t sleep! And don’t slack off like that! ...Oh my, he ran away.

\- Is there any treasure here?

\- Hmm? Hold on... Mmhmm, not bad. We’ll start over there! Dig on that part, I think treasures are under the soil.

\- You hear that, Lilac? Lend me a hand!

\- It’s easy to trick out dumb people like that... Ah, I’m talking about your master, not you. Do you mind helping me?

\- _*shakes head*_

\- Great! Let’s do it!

\- Um... I’m not going to interupt you guys, but please focus and don’t go off over there, can you? I’ve just sown the seeds there.

\- Oh, sure then. We’ll be careful, don’t worry, Herb.

“That guy is...”

The boy realized he did saw Herb sometimes in the back of the mountain next to the forest, with Macaron, too. They took care of a small garden over there.

“I remember. At that time, when watering the tree, he’s smiling like now, too.”

The little wind flies down to watch closer. He gently flows among the newly small trees next to the place where Herb has just sown the seeds. It’s been a long time since the last time he saw this peaceful green color.

The feelings which were supposed to be sleeping deep down inside the endless nightmare of the boy, now suddenly have been awaken in a flash moment.

“If the shape that Sugar Swan gave to me could have been stayed for now, could my tears ever drop?”

———————————

The little wind falls into sleep without noticing. Then when he wakes up in an afternoon. The lake is now dyed all red by the sunset. He realizes that there is nobody left in this floating island. What happened...?

\- I was always wishing that those precious days could last forever. But now, there’s nothing left in this island. Soon, the evil spirits will consume it.

“Hold on. What was that just now?”

The little wind sees Sugar Swan is turning her head down, facing the lake.

\- I used all my left power to send out the warning to the children in the island. Now I lose my previous cookie form— And there’s only Sugar Swan that you are seeing.

A teardrop falls down from her eye.

\- After destroying the floating island, their next target... Will be this lake.

“Huh?”

\- And after that, it will be your forest. You know... Even the lake is dried out, it can be revived when the rain comes, but your forest can’t. So... to protect you, I won’t regret anything, even my own soul.

The little wind gets frozen immediately when hearing that. A bad feeling quickly comes in his mind.

\- In your forest... there is a lovely wind. Everyday, it comes to play with the grass and flowers in the forest; and everynight, it sings a lullaby to wish you a good dream... This little wind will replace me to continue protecting you.

“...Please, please no... Anything but this...”

\- I have only one request left. When the lake and I disappear... Please bless this little wind. The name of this child will bring along my hope to deliver to you. And his name is————

Now the boy knows, the reason why he ever existed.

\- I love you, so much. Farewell, 「 」

———————————

“Why are you still here?”

“Because… you are me. If I disappeared, isn’t that mean you would also…”

“So what’s the matter with the disappearance? Now that you realize it? Even if you tried to continue, all that awaits you are just fear and loneliness. Now I see the truth!

“I’ve just remembered an important thing. But with my current… no, 「our」 current situation, I wonder should these memories exist or not?”

“Why are you asking me about that?”

“Because I am no longer exist. Even you are me, my memories can’t reach out to you. That body now belongs to Night Raven, not me.”

“You pretend that you want to give up; but to deliberately say it like this, you're obviously trying to hold on. How pathetic you are."

“How pathetic 「we」 are. That’s what you mean, right.”

“Fine. Tomorrow will be the end for this. The darkness will swallow everything.”

Closing his eyes, the boy recalls the dream where Sugar Swan was in. He recalls the jittery feelings back then in those long days protecting the forest, just to wait for someone to show up.

Just a bit more. If only he can get a bit stronger, just a bit more. To protect the forest, to be able to wait until the day that person awakes, and to overcome this fear.

The fear he had desperately suppressed to the bottom of his heart, buried it under many layers of emotions, to put on an emotionless face to everything around, now has become his greatest enemy. Since it was himself, he couldn't get through it, couldn't help but just watch himself going to self-destruct.

The young boy wonders why he still hadn't disappeared completely, but just a moment ago, he even had enough courage to stand up to question 「himself」. Why did those memories appear when he already decided to throw everything away?

After all, even after trying to cling on, this ending is still unavoidable?

———————————

Pitter patter, pitter patter.

– ………………….?

The boy wakes up. Something just fell onto his face. The rainclouds have now subsided. Through the twisted branches, the blue sky is reflected in his eyes.

\- Why am I… still alive?

He tries to stand up, all his body still remains aching. He had cursed himself so that he could receive the death - a lonely death in agony deep down under the abyss of darkness. But now, clearly he is still here being alive, and being able to feel everything around him.

\- These are…

The things that dropped into his face just now are not raindrops. Raises up the head and looks around, the boy realized that the forest is now covered in blue. Those blue drops can be seen in all the foliage, each one looks like a tiny drop of water, and stick with each of them is a small green sprout.

Gingerly, he reaches out to touch a drop. Like the membrane which covers the drop had just been broken, the green color bursts out from the drop, dragging the green sprouts into the ground.

At that moment, in his memory, something suddenly came back to life.

“The air today is so fresh…”

One drop, one more drop, then one more drop, bursts out after every touch. The clear blue from those drops sinks down, like it is dissolving the sadness of the boy and drags them into the ground.

“The lawn today is greeny too…”

He finally understand. The drops that he touched, which are recalling his memories…

“The singing of the birds today is also very cheerful....”

… are tears from that person.

“I love this forest. I want to protect it. I want to stay here forever.”

\- Aaa……… Waaaaaaah…………..!!

He bursts into tears, crying out loud. So many buried emotions, hidden loneliness, suppressed fear, are now flooding his mind, mixed with memories from the happy days when he was a wind, when Sugar Swan was still here.

He keep crying, and crying… until falling into sleep again.

———————————

“Even if it’s you or me... We’re one. We shares our root, our feelings, and our dreams together. Maybe that’s why... Mmm? Why are you turning your back from me?”

“You... What an eyesore...”

“So what’s with that? Because you’re crying, I am crying, too. There’s no reason to be shy when looking at 「yourself」, am I right? But still, what you said is true. Since I was pathetic, I’m such an eyesore to you.”

The eye-covered bandage falls down from the boy’s face, and vanishes into the void. Over that side, his other and true self are reaching his hand to him.

“Sorry for abandoning you in such a long time.”

“No, I should be the one to apologize. That place outside belongs to—“

“Belongs to 「us」“ - The young boy interrupt the line.

“Seems so.”

Holding the hand that reached out from that side, the boy gives his true self a tight hug.

“Let us return. That person... had lost Sugar Swan, and he had to wait for too long to awake.”

“That’s right. And... don’t ever let me appear anymore, remember?”

“I promise.”

———————————

Light starts to glow from the tears of both and slowly embraces them. The pure feeling from the very first day he came to the forest is now returning. His oath flutters in mind, calling him back again one more time.

The wings still remain on his back, but no longer dyed in the dreadful color of darkness. They now brings along the green color of vitality and hope. The young boy is back with a whole new appearance.

A strange yet familiar figure appears right in front of his view after he opened the eyes.

\- Don’t blame yourself, my child. My curse is not your fault.

\- Millennial Tree... I am a bad kid. I did such horrible things...

\- It’s all over. Thank you... for protecting the forest, and guard the me in sleep until now. No one can come here to hurt us anymore.

\- I’m under Sugar Swan’s and your care. I swear, with all this power, I will protect you and this forest until my soul evanesces.

The young boy kneels respectfully. Millennial Tree steps forward, lifts him up, and greet him with a kind smile.

\- No need to say that, my child. Sugar Swan and I owe you our lives. Say, the 「name」 that Sugar Swan gifted to you... Do you remember it?

\- Yes. The wind that carries the hope of dreams, the Guardian of Milliennial Tree... My name is—

「Wind Archer.」

There is now no cracking left in the bottom of the dry lake. Soon, there will be the endless lake which gently ripples next to the forest again...

_**[End]** _

_**…………………………………………………………………………………………………………** _

**Author's Note:**

> \- Thanks for reading until here. English is not my main language, so several mistakes can be found, I think. Please forgive me about that. This is my first work about Cookie Run ("Euforia" was written after this one). I decided to post this one after "Euforia" for more impact, so... I hope this works?  
> \- This fic is inspired by “Mozaik Role” (DECO*27), “Q” (siinamota) and “Orange” (tohma). After reading my fic, you might listen to these, they all have English subs available in Youtube.  
> \- Actually I bought a commission art for this, but the artist hasn't finish it yet, so I will upload it later.  
> \- Once again, thanks for reading! Feel free to give a comment! XD


End file.
